WiR: Over-Protective Wreckor :)
by the pixlexic sloth
Summary: (Recently Updated and Edited :)) At Tapper's one night, the four friends share a round of a cold glass of root beer over the topic of Ralph's worst nightmare...
1. Chapter One: Boys Who Bully

**(F.Y.I: I haven't forgotten or abandoned my Wreck-It Ralph Pool Story, so don't worry! I just had this random story idea in my head and needed to write to it - plus, it helped me with my writer's block with the other story lol. I'll be back with an update on the pool story soon! :) Thanks for reading! )**

It was another fairly average ending to another fairly average Friday of gaming for the group of friends in Litwak's Arcade. And although they all were tired at the end of their long day of gaming, Fix-It Felix Jr., his wife Sergeant Calhoun, Wreck-It Ralph, and Vanellope von Schweetz still gathered together as they always did on a Friday night to kick off the weekend.

They had met up after work from their respective games at their favorite middle place to meet: _Tapper's Root Beer_ game.

When they had all gotten there, the four friends found the root beer game was packed already, as it often was on a Friday night. While Calhoun and Felix stood in line to order the cold root beer treats, Ralph and Vanellope sought to find a booth, barely able to find one big enough to fit all four friends comfortably.

When the drinks arrived and each had one in their hands, the four close pals began to discuss the happenings of their day-- Calhoun had lead her fearless team to another day of many victories in her first-player war game, _Hero's Duty_. The 8-bit game of _Fix-It Felix Jr._ had been busier than usual that day, leading to lots of wrecking and fixing for both the good guy and bad guy of the game, Felix and Ralph. And of course, in the desert-themed game of _Sugar Rush_ , Vanellope had won many more races- which she decided to openly brag about.

"Ha! You should'a seen the look on the player's face when I crossed that finish line!" Vanellope laughed as she chugged her root beer. "It was _priceless_! I bet she regretted not picking me!"

Ralph couldn't help but smile at his little best friend sitting beside him. Sure, Vanellope tended to brag a lot- but considering how horrible she had been treated just a few years ago, the gentle-hearted wrecker figured the child deserved to be proud of herself once and a while.

"Yeah, I bet so too, kid," Ralph agreed, as he ruffled her long, raven hair a bit.

"Hey, hey, hey! _Watch it,_ will ya, Meat Hands?" Vanellope protested as she ducked her head from under the wrecker's gentle ruffling and smoothed out her own hair again, along with the few pieces of random types of candy that it contained. "I don't want to lose any _more_ candy pieces in my hair than I already did today!"

"What do you mean 'more', Short Stack?" Calhoun asked Vanellope curiously, taking a drink as she narrowed her eyes slightly at the child. "I thought those bits of pure sugar were practically glued to your head."

Vanellope eyed her ridiculously, her signature annoyed look ever present on her round face.

"Uh, _no_. They're just clips, see?" The child sassed as she unclipped a candy clip and reclipped it in place to demonstrate. "I lost a few earlier, and now I can't afford to lose any more of them."

The group was content in unspoken silence for a moment, sipping their cold drinks before the curiosity got the better of Ralph.

"So, how'd you lose your other clips earlier, kiddo?" He asked her, an assuming smirk appearing on his face.

"You veer off into a ditch or something and they flew off?"

In her place in the booth, Vanellope shrunk back a little, a look of embarrassment written in her narrowed eyes.

"Well...no. These boys came and pulled them out of my hair. Which kinda hurt," the child admitted, rubbing her head to prove her point.

"But, I'm fine," she quickly added nonchalantly as she took another drink of her root beer, eyeing the rest of the Friday night patrons in the root beer game.

At first, Calhoun and Felix were too shocked by the sudden revelation to even speak... whereas Ralph nearly choked on his root beer as he gawked down at the little girl.

"Wait, _boys_ did what to you?!" the giant of a man finally managed to spit out as he looked at his kid wide-eyed.

"Pulled my clips _ooout_...," the child tried to answer him as Ralph suddenly pulled her head closer to him so he could examine it closer.

The child tried to pull away from his gentle yet firm grasp, but it was in vain as she then tried to reassure him.

"Ralph, everything's fine, really!" she complained as she wiggled about, twisting her face up. "My head even doesn't _hurt_ anymore!"

"No, no! Everything's not fine," Felix found his voice, his own blue eyes wide in panic as he quickly got almost as upset as Ralph was. "That's, that's-"

"Yeah, I know- a pretty jerky thing to do, right?" The little glitch somehow pulled away from Ralph's examination and huffed back in her seat. "I didn't really even _do_ anything to them...not really," she muttered as an afterthought with an half-lidded eye roll.

"Vanellope, w-why didn't you tell us...t-tell _me_ this earlier?!" Ralph asked her desperately, his eyes wide and his face flushed in roaring anger.

It was clearly upsetting to the wrecker to find out some boys had tried to hurt his Vanellope, let alone without him even knowing about it.

"'Cause it doesn't matter anymore, Stink Brain," the little girl answered, again nonchalantly with a dismissive eye roll. "I'm not hurt."

Felix huffed, slightly disgusted at her expression.

"Oh, it _does_ to matter, Sugar Pie!" he told her as he shook a gloved finger at the child from across the table. "The fact that they didn't really hurt you or that you're not in any pain right now _does not_ make what they did to you ok." He eyed her with concern. "What those boys did was-"

"-completely and unacceptably not ok!" Ralph finished by growling anger.

" _Calm down_ , ladies," Calhoun, the usual level-headed one of the three adults, told the men as calm as she could manage. "Vanellope obviously ok," she tried to reason with her husband and his bad guy colleague. "There's no need to go into 'game over' mode."

But Ralph was already too far angry to reason.

"Oh, _wait_ 'til I get these hands on those brats," he growled under his breath as he clenched his big, strong fingers on each massive hand into two intimidating fists.

He quickly let his fists release, however, to worriedly pulled Vanellope's head closer to him again to further examine it, to make extra sure the child was really ok- much to the glitch's whining protest and pouting.

"Oh, I don't think you'd have to worry about defending Little Miss Fire Ball here, Wreck-It," Calhoun said with a smirk as she eyed Vanellope knowingly. "I've already taught Vanellope well enough by now to know had to handle _any_ jerk that dares mess with her, guy or gal, didn't I, Speed Demon?"

Darting her head out from under Ralph's overprotective hand, Vanellope returned the devilish smirk to her grown-up female role model.

"Oh, yeah, I got them back _pret-ty_ good," the child confirmed, a devilish tent in her eyes. "Trust me, guys- those boys regretted ever messin' with this Queen of Revenge!"

Smirking, Vanellope then reached her glass of root beer over to the army lady to toast to, which Calhoun returned with her look of approval of the glitch.

But Ralph and Felix still were not letting this matter go until they got more answers. Satisfying ones, at least.

"But who were these boys, Vanellope?" The fixer asked, going into detective mode by beginning his flood of questions. "Did you even know them? Are they fellow racers from _Sugar Rush_? Were they-"

"What? No!" Vanellope quickly answered, seeming shocked by his questions in accusation of her game mates. "My citizens under my rulership would _never_ do anything like that!"

"They all did at one time, though," Ralph gulped worriedly, although he was now finally convinced that Vanellope was physically ok. He decided to stop fretfully examining her head and switched to softly stroking her hair instead.

"Well, yeah, they were mean to me, _once,_ " Vanellope admitted as she stopped inching away from Ralph and allowed him to rub her ponytail. "But they are all my friends now, Stink Brain; none of them would ever think of hurting me.

"Besides," she added with a smirked up at him, "I'm the president of the game- everyone in my game knows better than to mess with me now!" She held up a tiny fist of her own to prove her next point. "I'd throw their butts in The Fungeon for committing season against me!"

"The term is ' _treason_ , Vanellope," Calhoun corrected the girl with an eye roll as she took a drink- wondering why the programmers even made the young glitch the entire leader of a game.

"Whatever," Vanellope waved her off her correction. "Point is, it wasn't any of the _Sugar Rush_ racer boys that pulled my clips from my hair!"

"Then who were those boys, Vanellope?" Felix repeated his question, but this time with more mystery than concern.

"And why were they trying to pull your clips out of your head...and hurt you?" Ralph added, voice still full of concern as ever.

Vanellope, now tired of the whole conversation, rested the side of her face with one hand and traced her mug with her finger with the other hand as Ralph still ran his huge fingers through her ponytail.

"How would _I_ know?" she answered. "All I know is that these particular boys were mean to me before the reset, too. They used to come into _Sugar Rush_ and would harass me- never really bullying me like the _Sugar Rush_ racers did, but ya'know, just being really annoying by calling me names and taking my things," she explained. "Now, even after the reset, they still sneak into _Sugar Rush_ from time to time, sneaking up behind me and pulling my ponytail or taking my hair clips from my hair. It really annoys me more than it does -or has- hurt me." Vanellope rolled her eyes once more as she took a sip of her root beer. "Stupid jerks."

As Ralph and Felix exchange confused and vexed glances, Calhoun, on the other hand, just smirked openly at Vanellope's explanation.

"Well, well," the woman remarked while sneering, again knowingly. "Sounds like those boys might be being 'mean' to you for _another_ reason then, Candy Head."

Turning to raise an eyebrow at Felix, Calhoun saw that he just eyed her back curiously and blankly.

Ralph, however, narrowed his eyes at the sergeant with a look of anger. He did not like where this was going. He took another drink, holding the glass with one large hand and continued to protectively stroke Vanellope's hair gently with the other.

"And what other reason could that be?" The wrecker growled at Calhoun with an eye roll. "Those boys are obviously just stupid jerks-"

"-Who all may very well have a little _crush_ on Vanellope," Calhoun interrupted him with a smirk.


	2. Chapter Two: Boys Who Crush

**Chapter Two** : **Boys...Who Crush**

One would've thought someone had told Ralph that Vanellope had two weeks left to live. He immediately got choked on his root beer and coughed uncontrollably for a few moments in time before finally answering Calhoun's posed idea.

"WHAT?!" the wrecker choked sporadically out in horror. "THOSE BOYS DO NOT HAVE-" he paused to cough up once more, "-A CRUSH ON _VANELLOPE!!"_

In desperation, Ralph looked across at Felix for support, but the fixer just pursed his lips silently and nervously. Many other game characters in _Tapper's_ were now beginning to stare at the large wrecker's loud coughing and screaming scene.

Calhoun, for her part, just continued to silently smirk at the giant, obviously enjoying getting under the man's skin.

"Pipe it down, Junk Pile," she told him with a satisfied eye roll. "I'm just stating what looks obvious to me. Why else would those random boys from another game be mean to Vanellope, especially after the reset?"

The war woman then turned her attention from the distraught man across from her to the little girl sitting beside him.

"That's how some boys show that they _like_ a girl, you know," she winked at the Vanellope. "Harmlessly teasing her, harassing her - all that stuff to show that they are flirting with her." The war lady calmly took a drink as she added: "Boys treated _me_ like that all the time as a kid in part of my distant backstory."

"Well, _duh_!" Ralph snapped roughly at the woman. "They knew they had to with a girl like _you_ or else you'd _kill_ them with your bare hands!"

Ignoring the death stares he was now receiving from the fierce war lady, Ralph quickly turned his attention to Vanellope, who was sitting silently and completely stoned-face at the sudden, interesting twist of situation.

"Vanellope, listen, kid," he begged her, his voice pleading with her as poured his heart out. "Most boys aren't-"

"Wait, wait, wait..." Vanellope interrupted suddenly with a look of shock, her eyes incredibly wide. "So, you're saying that those boys might... _like_ me, Calhoun?!"

Before the sergeant could smirk in answer, Ralph quickly butted in.

"No!" he shouted, shooting angry glares at Calhoun once again and looked worriedly back down at his little friend beside him. "Ok...well, maybe," Ralph then admitted. "But that _doesn't_ mean that it's ok to for those boys to hurt you...never, ever think that, Vanellope..."

But he trailed in horror of when he realized that the little girl wasn't even listening. She just sat still for a moment her mouth hanging open as a look of slow disgust filled her face.

After a pregnant, awkward pause, all of the three adult friends were a little shocked when Vanellope began to be, well, classic Vanellope as she started to pretend to gag everywhere.

"EWWW! EW EW!! _Gross_!" The child cried out, her twist screaming in horror. "I don't want those boys to _like me!_ " She shook her head hard at the mere disgusting thought.

"You...don't?" The sergeant raised an eyebrow at her, a little surprised at the child's strong reaction.

"Uh, _no!"_ Vanellope gawked out. "Ralph's right- those boys are just _jerks_. Have been and always will be. And they are obviously, like, _weird_ , too." She looked thoroughly and innocently confused.

"What do boys think being 'mean' to a girl will do, anyway?" she added ridiculously. " _Make her magically_ _like him back suddenly?!_ Uh, no! Sorry, it doesn't work that way for me!"

"So...you don't want _them_ to like _you,_ " Ralph concluded, a small relieved smile forming on his face. "But... _you_ also don't like any of those jerks _back_ or anything, right, kid?" He looked down at Vanellope with worried, begging eyes.

"Uh, no- _of course not_!" The sassy glitch looked up at the man and gave him her signature _gadoi_ look. "In fact, knowing that they might actually _like_ me just makes me _hate_ them even more!"

The child then grabbed her root beer mug, lean her back up against the back of the booth and continued her rant. "I mean, come on! If you _do_ like me, just _tell_ me flat-out so I can let ya down easy and reject ya faster! _Yeesh_ , boys can be _so_ stupid sometimes."

Across from her, Felix chuckled at her comments and Calhoun smirked, both obviously more amused by the child's speech than concerned.

But Ralph wasn't quite at ease or at peace with everything yet. He sighed shakily as a new thought entered his mind, a thought so terrifyingly to him that it felt like it was out of a horrible nightmare.

Although it was a great relief to know that she didn't like these boys, Ralph knew that it didn't mean Vanellope didn't possibly like some other boy or _even a number of boys..._

Before he could even find out the answer to a dreading question raised and left unanswered in his mind, Vanellope then sat straight up beside him suddenly and smiled mischievously as an idea hit her.

"Now, on a much better note," she began, "who's willing to bet ten _Mario-Kart_ coins that I can chug all this root beer down in under 30 seconds?!"

Calhoun quickly placed her bets and Felix just chuckled again, both obviously now ok with the sudden switch of conversation. Both the fixer and sergeant were now at peace that if Vanellope was ok with everything that had happened, could brush it all off, and not even worry a bit about those boys liking her, then they could let it go, too.

But for a certain over-worrying wrecker, this conversation was far from being over until he got answers to his questions.

It wasn't so much now that those boys had hurt -or annoyed- Vanellope that worried Ralph, although that was still upsetting to him. It was more of the idea that Vanellope -his little girl, in his opinion- might possibly be starting to think more about boys in general...maybe even starting to _like_ a few of them that worried Ralph to his core.

 _She's only programmed to be, what, like 9 years old or so?_ He reasoned. _That's waaay too young for a girl to start being interested in boys or want to be with one as a girlfriend...even for a girl that is as smart or as outgoing and free-spirited as Vanellope..._

The fatherly-man of a giant gulped silently after a second of allowing his mind to go amuck- before he pushed all such thinking away.

No, this little girl isn't growing up that fast...Is she?

Sighing wearily and looking around at the pack root beer game, Ralph watched blankly as Tapper ran around trying to serve everyone at each booth. Lights from the new disco ball overhead nearly blinded anyone who dared to look at it as it caused thousands of tiny sparkles to fill the room. And the wrecker's ears felt they were going to go deaf when loud, upbeat music started to play.

 _There_ _has_ _to be a way for me to casually find out of Vanellope likes boys,_ he thought desperately. _I need to know..._

Ralph found his eyes dance back over to look down at the child in question, who was currently chugging her root beer until the glass was empty. This scene was made that much more comical as Calhoun cheered the child on by banging her fist on the table loudly and as Felix blushed but tried not to laugh at the two girls all the same.

When the root beer was finally gone from Vanellope's glass within the allotted time in the bet, Calhoun cheered loudly and handed over the group of miniaturized _Mario-Kart_ coins. Greedily scoping them up and shoving them into her hoodie front pocket, Vanellope then leaned up against the booth, exhausted in triumphant.

Despite his worry, Ralph couldn't help but smile at the child's antics. _She's such a little tomboy,_ he thought fondly about the little glitch in only the way he could as she suddenly let out a loud, hearty burp.

But still, the pestering thought resurfaced and started to eat at him all over again.

 _Just because she is a tomboy doesn't mean_ _she isn't interested in boys or anything, though..._

Ralph sighed again, only long and slow this time, trying to force it _not_ to be so shaky.

He knew that, yes, this next conversation he'd bring up would indeed be very awkward. But the wrecker also knew that he couldn't back out now, or else he'd worry forever.

Ralph _had_ to know the truth- and now was the time to find out.

Rubbing the back of his neck nervously, Ralph, who was already so prone to being so awkward, tried to bring up the previous conversation back up with ease.

"So," he said a little too loudly despite the music, gaining the attention his three friends at the booth. "Since, you know, we were on the topic of, um, _BOYS_ , Vanellope-" he cleared his throat nervously, "-let's talk about them!"

He nervously eyed Vanellope, who looked him back curiously.

"What da ya mean, Ralph?" the child asked, although it was clear she was distracted as she watched as the others root beer game characters dance to the overhead music before their table.

"Uh...You know, _BOYS_!" Ralph repeated, trying to get her attention again. "Particularly boys that you find...um, _interesting,_ Vanellope," he continued, trying to look relaxed and nonchalant- although it was almost _painful_ how awkward and uncomfortable he clearly felt. "Or cute or, uh, sweet, or funny, or, you know, whatever."

Across from him and watching the whole conversation happen, Felix winced at Ralph's awkwardness.

"What are you _talking_ about, brother?" the fixer asked the man, although honestly not wanting the answer.

"I'm simply trying to casually talk with Vanellope to see if there are any boys that she finds...different." Ralph sighed frustratedly, eyeing down at the child. He became even more frustrated when he saw Vanellope was obviously still confused by his questioning.

The child was quiet, trying to think over his question- but the loud, distracting music overhead made doing so incredibly to do hard.

As if on cue, the loud music was cut off suddenly, much to Ralph's delight. Now, Vanellope would be clear to think- and hopefully be able to answer him honestly.

"Well... _you're_ a guy, and _you're_ different, I guess, Ralph," the little glitch answered after a minute of thinking, trying to piece together just what Ralph was asking. "I mean, I'd never call ya _cute_ or anything- especially since you look like a hobo whale," she smirked at him as Calhoun stifled a laugh.

Shaking his head, Ralph mumbled out a sigh. That wasn't quite the answer he was looking for.

"No, I don't mean different like... _that_ , kid." He thought for a minute, trying to find the right words to reword his question so she'd understand better. "I mean, different as in...a boy, like, your age, that you like... Like, _like_ like."

Across from them, Calhoun snorted loudly at his choice of words. "'Like like'? How old do you think Vanellope is, Ralph? _4_?"

As Ralph glared back at the sergeant, Vanellope stared at the wrecker for a moment, her face slowly filling with understanding.

"Wait, wait, wait...Are you asking _me_... to tell _you..._ if I _like_ a certain _boy?_ Like, _like_ like a boy? She asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"Um...Yeah," Ralph answered her weakly, rubbing his neck awkwardly once more as avoided looking at her. _Yeah, this conversation isn't awkward at all, _he thought sarcastically as his face blushed a deep red.

The child beside him just sat quietly, but not for long. To Ralph's complete surprise, Vanellope began to pretend to gag again.

"Me, like _boys_?" Vanellope gawked. "Ralph, what are ya, _nuts_? Of _course_ not! Complete heck to the NO! There ain't _no_ _way_ _this_ girl got any hots for any boy, ok?" She rolled her eyes dramatically before she began to explain why.

"First of all, no boy could ever handle _this,_ ok?" she gestured towards herself as a slight glitch ran through her body, pixelating her whole body from head to toe for a split moment in time. "Second of all, boys, _especially_ boys my age, I honestly believe were all created with a few pieces of missing code fragments, leading them to be stupid, immature and gross." She paused long enough to stick her tongue out. "I can not _tolerate_ most boys, let alone _like_ like any of them."

She paused in her speech to call out to Tapper's for a refill of her mug, then eyed both Ralph and Felix sheepishly. "Well, I guess there are a _few_ exceptions with boys I can actually tolerate."

The child then looked directly up at Ralph, her face serious yet her eyes mocking and annoyed nonetheless.

"So I'll NEVER like boys. Like, _like_ like. Especially not boys my own age. _Blah,"_ she choked out with a little shiver of her body in disgust.

After Tapper set her refill on the table, Vanellope once more took the glass with ease and leaned back up against the booth, allowing her friends - especially Ralph- a moment to take in all she had said.

This honestly was a little too good to be true for Ralph to hear.

 _What? Really?_ He thought happily in shock, a slow smile stretching across her face. _Vanellope isn't interested in boys...and never will be?!_ _This is awesome!_

He then reasoned to himself before he allowed himself to get too excited.

 _But...does she really mean that?_ he wondered worriedly. _Or she is just trying to tell me what I want to hear?_

"R-really, Vanellope?" Ralph asked her anxiously, waiting for her hopefully confirming answer. "You don't like boys- and never will?"

Vanellope left him waiting for the answer as she took another long drink of her root beer before. She snacked her lips noisily before finally setting her now empty glass will a hearty _chank_.

Finally, she answer him apathetically, shrugging at him carelessly as a burp escaped her lips. "Yup."


	3. Chapter Three: Boys who Protect

**Chapter Three: Boys...Who Protect**

Relief immediately started to wash over Ralph. His racing heartbeat and worried thoughts slowed down, and his tomato-red face began to finally fade back to normal.

 _Yes!_ he mentally cheered with a fist bump, completely elated by Vanellope's answer. _I don't have to worry about any of that stuff now! _

"Good, great actually," he sighed happily out loud, allowing a breath he was unnoticeably holding in to escape his smiling lips. "You're totally right, kid. Who needs boys, right?" he brushed it off with a _tsk_. "Boys _are_ total weirdos- and trust me, they only get weirder as they get older, kid. "

"Yes, only some more than others," Calhoun couldn't help but mutter with a pointed eye roll as she took another drink.

Her comment gained a hearty laugh from Vanellope. "You said it, Space Warrior!" she smirked in agreement.

"So...," Ralph continued with a huge smile on his face. "That means you'll _never_ want to date or marry _any_ boys then, right kid?"

"Right," Vanellope echoed to Ralph, sharing in his smile innocently. "Boys are _definitely_ not for me. Ever."

"Good," Ralph approved by gently ruffled her hair. "Always, always feel that way."

Across from the two agreeing friends, Felix huffed through a bottom lip and rubbed his forehead with eyes squeezed shut.

Not wanting Vanellope to get hurt by a boy, the fixer understood...but being this worried about _every boy_ around Vanellope's age, thinking they're all out to hurt her like that, and not wanting Vanellope to _ever_ date or eventually to get marry...Well, it was all a little bit overkill.

"Ralph, brother," he told his friend gently, his soft blue eyes kind and pleading. "There's no need to be so protective of Vanellope when it comes to boys. She's old enough to take care of herself, and-"

"What?! I'm not being overprotective of her 'when it comes to boys'!" Ralph barked as he interrupted him, his own eyes sharp and defensive. "I was just confirming how _Vanellope_ chooses to feel about them. Right, Fart Feathers?" He asked his tiny friend, trying his hardest not to sound or look hopeful or desperate.

"Correctamundo," the child responded as calmer, softer music began to play overhead. Vanellope looked away from Ralph and looked out over the other characters that were still in _Tapper's_ , starting to sway and redance in her seat.

Smiling happily down at her, Ralph proudly ruffled her hair again. " _That's_ my girl."

"Oh, come _on_ , Junk Pile," Calhoun finally snapped, her narrowed eyes just as sharp as her voice. "Don't treat Vanellope like such a baby. Being so stinking overprotective of her is just ridiculous."

"I'm _not_ being overprotective of the kid _or_ treating her like a baby!" Ralph repeated with narrowed eyes back at her, daring her to contend otherwise. "What's so wrong about being relieved she doesn't want to date any boys?"

In her seat, Vanellope finally stopped watching other dance and eyed up at Ralph curiously. "But...why _are_ you relieved about that, Stink Brain? "

"Well, um..." Ralph searched for the right words, looking away from her.

"Because he's an overprotective idiot and wants to keep you baby, Candy Head" Calhoun told Vanellope with an eye roll.

"For the last time, _I'm not being overprotective of Vanellope or treating her like a baby!"_ Ralph bellowed loudly, causing others in root beer game to turn and stare.

Seeing the spectacle he had cause, he blushed and continued more quietly, looking embarrassed. "I'm just..it's it's just-" he sighed defeatedly, unable to find his words.

"Ok, ok fine," he finally mumbled. "Maybe- maybe you and Felix are right..."

" ' _Maybe'_?" Calhoun sneered at him as she gave him a pointed look.

The wrecker eyed her back, obviously trying to keep his cool as he sighed through his nose long and slow.

"Ok, you two _are_ right," he admitted desperately. "Maybe I _am_ being a little overprotective of Vanellope. But I can't _help_ it."

Miserably, the giant turned to look at his petite friend -his kid- sitting beside him.

"I just...I can't _stand_ the fact that others used to hurt you all the time, Vanellope. Before the reset, I mean," he told her softly. "And to think you had to endure it all...all alone. .."

Ralph found himself trailing off and then looked away, clearly his heart breaking at the memory. Forcing himself to look back at his little glitch as she waited on the edge of her seat for him to continue.

"That's why I don't like the idea of you getting bullied or hurt _now_ , by anyone - but especially not any _boy,"_ the man gently told the child as he fondly adjusted the remaining clips in her hair. "I feel like it's _my_ responsibility to ensure you don't ever have to go through any more pain like that ever again and that you're protected from it all- physically, mentally and emotionally...which is why I don't like the idea of you liking or _dating_ a boy, either," he connected softly.

He became silent for a moment, unsure of how everyone would take his express worries- especially Vanellope.

After a moment, she was the one who broke the silence. "Really, Ralph?" she asked softly. "You care about me... _that_ much?" the child looked up at him, her eyes wider than ever before.

Vanellope always knew that Ralph cared about her deeply...but she never knew just how _much_ , apparently.

"Of course, kid," Ralph blushed before protectively scooping Vanellope up into his lap, rolling his eyes to look away from her in embarrassment. "I really, ya know, care about ya and stuff. I hate the idea of you ever getting hurt physically or emotionally by anyone, especially some stupid boy-"

But the man paused for a moment when he noticed Calhoun and Felix eyeing something behind him suspiciously with stunned looks on their faces.

Abandoning his thoughts, Ralph turned to see just what the two of them were looking at.

As he did, he saw two young boys, obviously about Vanellope's age, who had walked into the root beer game. Both of the boys had random bits of clearly unwelcomed candy in their hair, along with being covered from head to toe with some familiar-looking gooey green goop.

The poor boys looked beyond miserable and upset as they lumbered along, although it was somewhat comical to see they take a step, they get stuck to the floor due to the glue-like gloob. As they'd get unstuck and be freed to take a step,the boys' feet would just get restuck again.

As the boys finally got to where they stood in line for a root beer, they both tried to help pull off the candy and goop out of each others hair, wincing at how the goop pulled at their heads.

During one particularly rough pulling, one of the boys' eyes drifted over to where Ralph and his pals were sitting. When the boys' eyes landed on Vanellope, though, the boys' face went completely white, fear obviously filling his wide eyes.

In desperation, the boy shoved his friend and pointed over to where the little glitch sat, who had noticed them herself and was eyeing them both calmly... tauntingly raising her eyebrows at them and smirking.

Both boys, obviously completely panicked at the sight of Vanellope, quickly abandoned the line for the root beers. Racing as fast as they possibly could to leave the game, continuously tripped over each other and their shoes getting stuck to the floor permanently. They stumbled out of the stuck shoes due to the goob and hurried out the game's entrance.

After the boys had all but disappeared, the four friends who had been watching them sat now in silence for a moment, although Ralph felt his eyes widen.

He didn't have any clue what all of _that_ was about, but he was starting to have a pretty strong idea...

"Was that-" Felix began as he tried to connect the dots.

"I told ya, I _already_ took care of it all," the young glitch smirked calmly at them as she waved it off, innocently cuddling closer to Ralph.

Upon realizing what she meant, Ralph couldn't help it. He could feel it rising in his chest and felt it bubble up his throat.

He laughed. The wrecker heartily laughed and laughed, so hard, in fact, that Vanellope almost fell off his lap.

His gut-wrenching laugher caused Vanellope to laugh and smirk gleefully, leading to Felix across from them start to smile then crack up himself. Even Calhoun couldn't keep down her chuckling before it erupted into loud, uncontrollable laughter.

"Did ya _see_ the look on those bozos' faces?! PRICELESS!" The sergeant wiped a few tears of laughter away after they all stopped laughing.

Ralph himself had quieted down by then, although he still chuckled to himself as he smiled down at his little friend.

"I guess you really _did_ get those boys good, didn't ya, Fart Feathers?" he told her gently. She giggled as he then patted her head approvingly.

"See, what I tell ya?" Calhoun chuckled out, a rare look of pride and affection on her face for the little glitch. "Vanellope can take care of herself _just_ fine."

Rubbing the back of his neck again, Ralph found himself smiling as well, but this time out of embarrassment.

He knew then on that Friday night, as such as he hated to admit it...Felix and Calhoun _had_ been right.

Vanellope _didn't_ honestly need to be over-protected. She could clearly hold her own and could strike back against anyone -any _boy_ \- if need be.

Ralph could have peace of mind knowing that the little girl was no longer a victim of bullying as she was forced to be before the reset, as the wrecker had been worried about; Vanellope was strong and had the guts to stand up for herself- and could do so _without_ his help most times.

His heart finally happy, he knew his little glitch would be alright- and felt that he was kinda of stupid to ever think otherwise. Her ever being hurt by anyone again was just a distant nightmare- never again to be a reality.

Sighing in happiness, the man smiled down at his little girl, his own look of strange pride and affection on his face as he noogied her gently.

"Listen," Ralph told Vanellope as he set her beside him gently and as he stood up, "I'm going to the bathroom real quick- and then when I get back, let's all go on a game jumping adventure!"

He held out his fist for Vanellope to fist bump, which she quickly returned and cheered in happiness right before she wiggled in happiness and excitement.

As he walked away from the table and made his way through the crowd of characters in _Tapper's_ on the dance floor, Ralph chuckled, mostly at how foolish he had been again.

There was no need to be so overly-protective of his little girl Vanellope..about the bullying, at least.

 _I'm_ _still_ _not going to let her date for a loooong time to come,_ he decided as he walked into the restroom with a smile.

Back at the table, the three friends were silent for a moment...although both Calhoun and Vanellope eyed Ralph, watching him as he got out of sight- and out of earshot.

Once she was sure Ralph was not going to overhear them, Calhoun turned to silently smirk knowingly at Vanellope.

"Ok, spill it, Princess," she asked the child nonchalantly. "What boys do you _actually_ like?"

Her eyes wider than ever, Vanellope turned to look at her. Immediately squealing uncharacteristically girly, the little girl bounced in her place on the booth at Calhoun's question.

"Oooh! I'd thought you'd _never_ ask!" She squawked, sighing dreamfully with half-lidded eyes. "Ok- so, first off, there's _Rancis,_ who is kinda cute, right? But _Glyod_ is so funny! Ooh! And then there's..."

And as Vanellope proceeded to list off a whole bunch of names of boys she _liked_ liked to Calhoun, Felix slumped down into his seat and pulled his hat worriedly down closer to his head, trying to figure out how in the _boo_ he was going to keep this all from the world's most over-protective wrecker.

 **(Hope all enjoyed reading!)**


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